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Katie Cutler raised hundreds of thousands in support of the 68-year-old

PR mastermind Claire Barber, who is demanding Ms Cutler pay up by Tuesday, said she hired her on a quest for fame, and wanted a gig in the Celebrity Big Brother house.

And Mr Barnes, who was given enough money for a new house, offered to give Ms Cutler just £10 towards her bill.

The beautician, who became dubbed the the “Angel of the North” says she now wished she never bothered, after being threatened with bailiffs following a small claims court claim.

Ms Cutler claims she now has "dark days" and is going through a "terrible ordeal", often unable to sleep or devote time to her four-year-old daughter Gracie.

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Katie Cutler must now pay a £6,000 bill to a PR firm

I feel so sad about the whole situation, I can’t believe this has happened. I’m overwhelmed that people are raising money for me.

Katie Cutler

She said: "Of course there are times when I wish I never got involved.

"But then I think of the people I helped and I cannot regret it for long.

"The worst part is that my little girl has just started school and I don’t feel like I have been there for her."

Mr Barnes, who is just 4ft 6in and registered blind, was pushed over and attacked as he put his bins out.

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Mr Barnes has offered her £10 towards the cost - despite her raising thousands for him

His attacker Richard Gatiss, 26, was jailed for four years after admitting to assaulting the 68-year-old pensioner in January 2015.

Kind-hearted Katie Cutler soon became the nation's sweetheart however after she began campaigning for donations for Mr Barnes, raising thousands in just a matter of days.

In the months after, Mr Barnes said he got a "calling from God" to move to the Shetland Islands.

He later decided to stay in the Gateshead area, but is looking to move into another home.

After her fundraising drive, Ms Cutler was recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list and received a British Empire Medal for her efforts.

Now the young mum, from Greenside in Tyne & Wear, has now given up on plans to set up a charitable foundation to help raise money for other people.

She said: “All I ever wanted to do was to help others.

"I have been approached by so many people for help but have had to say no because of this legal action against me."

But thankfully for her, generous well-wishers have set up another Go Fund Me page titled Pay off Katie Cutlers PR Bill - so far raising almost £2,000 towards her fees.

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Well-wishers have set up another Go Fund Me page titled Pay off Katie Cutlers PR Bill

She said: "I feel so sad about the whole situation, I can’t believe this has happened. I’m overwhelmed that people are raising money for me.

"There are a lot of big hearted people out there and this proves that.”

Ms Barber, CEO of Claire Barber PR, said in a statement: “Katie Cutler employed Claire Barber PR to handle her PR in March 2015.

“We worked together for four months achieving blanket bespoke PR coverage across almost every national newspaper, multiple TV news channels across the NE and UK including Sky, ITN, ITV, the BBC and Channel 4, Radio 2 and an exclusive negotiated interview on ITV This Morning that took a considerable amount of time to set up. Also hundreds of e-mails, calls and planning.

“It was an enormous amount of work with phenomenal success. Katie made two payments in June 2015, then proceeded to write all over social media her shock at getting our bill (which was agreed prior to any work undertaken).

“At this point we offered her a payment plan, but she wouldn’t respond to anything. As a small family business with an impeccable reputation and after over a year and still no payment, we had no choice but to go to the small claims court.

“Katie didn’t respond with any defence to the small claims court either other than acknowledgement of papers. We are a small, hard working company and we are simply not able to carry this debt.

“We are incredibly shocked with the way Katie has belittled our hard work and devotion to the four-month project that Katie commissioned us for.”